U.S.Teens More Likely to be Obese

Fewer Canadian teens are obese, but weight is a problem on both sides of the border

The U.S. has a larger portion of obese children and adolescents compared to Canada, though neither country has seen a change in childhood obesity prevalence in the last decade, according to data from the NHANES and the Canadian Health Measures Survey.

Margaret D. Carroll, MSPH, of the Centers for Disease Control, and colleagues found statistically significant differences in the prevalence of obesity in children ages 3-19 years in the U.S. compared to Canada (17.5% in 2009-2012 and 13.0% in 2009-2013, respectively, P<0.001). These numbers have remained largely unchanged since the beginning of the 21st century (16.6% in 2001-2004 and 12.4% in 2004, respectively, P<0.001), the authors reported in a NCHS Data Brief published on August 25.

Denise Y. Lee, DO, of the division of nutrition and preventive medicine at Beaumont Health System in Royal Oak, Mich., said that the fact that obesity rates have recently stabilized is a positive sign after seeing increases in childhood obesity from the 1980's until the beginning of the 21st century. Lee was not involved with the study.

"It is important to raise awareness about the increasing prevalence of childhood obesity because these obese children and adolescents are at higher risk of becoming obese adults," she told MedPage Today via e-mail."Hopefully this plateau is a positive reflection of the increased education and resources that are being devoted to improving health and maintaining a normal weight."

Obesity prevalence in teenagers also varied by age, as well as gender, across the two countries. The most recent data shows U.S. adolescents ages 7-12 were associated with a statistically significant difference in obesity rates compared to Canadian adolescents (19.2% versus 11.8%, P<0.001). Similar patterns were observed in non-Hispanic white adolescent girls in the U.S. ages 7-12 compared to Canadian girls (15.2% versus 8.8%, P<0.001).

There was also a statistically significant difference between obesity in U.S. girls ages 13-19 (18.3%) compared to Canadian girls (11.7%, P<0.001), while obesity rates among teen boys were comparable, though not significant (19.8% versus 18.1%, respectively).

However, there was little difference between the two countries for the youngest children ages 3-6 (12.3% U.S. versus 10.8% Canada).

When asked about the potential reasons in the differences in prevalence rates between the two countries, Cynthia Ogden, PhD, also of the CDC, told MedPage Today that the data from the two countries really generates more questions as to why we see similarities in some cases and why we see differences in other cases. She suggested future research to potentially explore the differences, especially those among gender lines, in greater detail.

"I would like to now do some comparisons of dietary activity in kids or physical activity in kids, where we have similar data and we can actually make those comparisons to see what's different among boys and girls," Ogden concluded.

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